Nation held hostage by debt

The sky changes color over the U.S. Capitol as the sun begins to rise Sept. 25, 2013, in Washington, D.C., as the U.S. Senate planned a vote on a stopgap spending bill that that passed the House last week.

President Obama is accusing Republicans of "holding the whole country hostage" by threatening a partial government shutdown if they don't pass a budget and raise the nation's debt limit to head off a first-ever default on the nation's debt.

Which is worse for the country, a government default or continued out-of-control spending? How many times will the president and Congress, in this case the Democratic-controlled Senate, want to continue to pass along this enormous debt to my son, your kids and grandkids, and beyond? At some point our creditors will decide that there is no way for the United States to make good on their debt and the default will be imposed by outside forces.

The best solution is to moderately cut spending and slowly, but surely, reduce the debt. It will be the least painful pill to swallow. I checked the national debt clock today, which stands at $16.9 trillion. That is $53,508 per person and $148,176 per taxpayer.

My assertion is that the national debt is holding us hostage and not the GOP. I'm not sure it is a party issue, but historically the Democrats have been the tax and spend party, not the GOP. We have to get our heads out of the sand before it is too late.

Larry Werner

Indianapolis

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Nation held hostage by debt

President Obama is accusing Republicans of 'holding the whole country hostage' by threatening a partial government shutdown if they don't pass a budget and raise the nation's debt limit to head off a